St. Francis: "Preach at all Times, Only Sometimes, Use Words"

        Monica,  Columbus, Ohio

       Beyond words was the experience last night with the homeless on Williams Rd., with the portable soup kitchen of Hope on High.  I went to be with my South side buddies, mainly the homeless who live in the woods close by, to simply sit and share lives at meal with each other.
       Aaron still struggles greatly with addiction, and all I did was listen to a litany, beautifully and eloquently spoken, of what has been taking place in the woods and his personal life through all this.  If he could only see how exquisite he is in the eyes of Jesus, which is what I prayed unceasingly while he was talking.  I have done this with him at least four or five times.  He said at the end, "Next time I see your smiling face, I am going to be clean and beginning a new relationship with my 17 year old daughter."
       Fred ("Santa") and Red, his girlfriend in a wheelchair from crushed bones in her feet (from a great height suicide attempt) were there. So glad to see them and get to catch up!  Scott came, whose girlfriend Harmony is in jail awaiting a sentencing for probation violation on March 1. He was just released the day before from two weeks in a facility for mental health (from missing her during her arrest).  I prayed with him, and ask all of you readers to please pray for Harmony.  She must call her probation officer every night at 6:15 to see if they should meet the next day.  Being homeless and having no cell phone makes this very difficult (and being surrounded by others who do not have cell phones -- and there are no payphones anymore!).
      Scott emphasized that the homeless are discriminated against every single day.  She was caught because she was breaking apart a very dangerous verbal fight between the friend and her boyfriend.  The neighbors called the police.  Pray for Harmony on March 1, please.
      "Baby," a huge man (tall and big), "fifteen years living as a homeless man," got so angry at the man I was eating and speaking with who was laughing at something separate that he pulled out a large wide knife and sat it on the table while he yelled at him some.  Scott stopped him, took his knife and put it in his coat, and almost started a real fight.  I stormed the heavens and they both took it outside the big tent and cleared it up.
      Viola was there and her boyfriend Tim! Tim broke his foot tripping on a cut-off small tree stump, and is on crutches (they were the ones living in the closet of a boarded up home).  I was able to bring four large trash bags of clothing from those who donated to the December parties we threw there.  Viola got new clothes, a coat, and a much needed blanket.  I gave them three propane cans to get them a few warm nights.  Such a sweet couple.  I gave propane to others as well, because it is still winter out there.
      Tyrell came and looks better than the last time I saw him, always smiling wide!  We sat and talked. Such a DOLL baby!! I get FAR more out of all this than they do!!  Michael did not show nor Tim Tom; and I was so sad. Tim is the one homeless even among them, without a tent, and Michael has serious spinal and other health issues. I hope they are okay, and I pray for them often.  Michael has the titanium rod along most of his spine, etc.
       Papa Bear came!!   He looks sooo different from December!  He's been very sick in the past couple of weeks.  He has lost so much weight and is weaker (in his seventies?).  Thanks to EDDIE BAUER for donating an additional 25-30 brand new winter coats!!!   All of them were taken and very well appreciated!  Papa Bear got the sassiest red and black ski jacket -- for UNDER his winter coat that was a jacket of jean material.  He said it felt much much better.
      Throughout the night I was able to take one to two groups "home" to the edge of the woods, at different openings, with all their new belongings.  My favorite trip was with Michelle, a woman I just met in her 50's whose been in these woods for a year with a 27 year old daughter, Mikaela.  We just sat at the edge of the woods and talked and talked about both our families. Words cannot describe the beauty of the conversation.  I always always pray in the Holy Spirit as I listen, and He always shows up.
     I feel God may be asking me to buy a house or two down there, with land, to possibly begin a little community of these homeless and "forgotten" people. It would be difficult for them to just be added to a middle class family, in a Christ Room that Dorothy Day promoted.  One reason is how different and even lonely they would feel apart from their friends and people who have shared their experiences.  They need community.
      They are SOOOO in need of everything though, and I want to REALLY help them, not simply say, "God bless, keep warm and well fed," as Jesus (or St. Paul?) warned in the Scriptures.  Not just to "preach" to them, or give them an experience of God then walk away, with such dire situations and circumstances.  I am speaking to myself as well.  I am guilty.
      Coming here once or twice a month and befriending them is just not enough for me at all.  Show me the way, Lord.  What do you want?
     Please pray for me!  And especially for all these people on the South side.  "We" - all 80-100 main BFF's in heaven and I - claim this South side area for Christ!  We bind and cast out anything of evil from all these woods (boy did Aaron have some stories), and all those whose mascot is the Marion-Franklin Red Devils, the school right by there that generations have gone to and heavily support!           Please God, help us claim this all back for you, especially any spirits of addictions, hopelessness, and atheism!  Come, Holy Spirit, come!!
         

I May Be the Miracle to Help Get Peter Maurin Canonized

    By Monica Siemer,  The Lamb Catholic Worker, Columbus, Ohio
       Many who strongly desire to have Dorothy Day canonized want Peter Maurin, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, canonized alongside her.  She always said that HE started the Catholic Worker not her, that it was his vision, his dreams, his everything, and that she simply went along.  He only lived 15 years to see it bear fruit, while she did for nearly 50 years.
      It dawned on me, after saying so many, many times to people on my return from the Mayo hospital and the Gift of Life Transplant House, that I was supposed to die according to statistics.  Nearly all the cases of people donating part of their liver to a loved one (I gave 59% of my liver to my nephew Nick), that had need of a second emergency surgery 3-5 days out, died.  I was the worst case the Mayo, who has never lost a patient in the 215 live liver donor surgeries in 15 years, has ever seen.  At the other places that do these rare surgeries, nearly all have died that needed a second emergency surgery right away.
       I offered everything up for Nick, for the canonization of Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day together, for the purification of the Catholic Worker Movement back to the diamond of its founders, and for the Lamb Catholic Worker to begin here in Columbus, Ohio.  I was 16 days in the hospital and a month in the Gift of Life Transplant House.  I constantly asked for Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin's intercession (along with Mother Mary, of course).  Dorothy is in the "Servant of God" stage of the beatification process but I believe that Peter is not at all.  In the Catholicism 10-CD series, Fr. Robert Barron introduces the Catholic Worker Movement with the wide grin of Peter Maurin, not Dorothy Day.
      Please Dear Papa, Holy Father, consider canonizing Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin together!  Pray for us too!!

LCW Spring 2015 Newsletter

 The Lamb Catholic Worker

Spring 2015 Newsletter

       The greatest news we have, that should be proclaimed from the rooftops, is that in March Pope Francis declared a year of Jubilee coming, beginning this year on December 8, 2015, instead of at the traditional 25-year mark (2025), calling for a Holy Year of Mercy. It is of no surprise though, from the pontiff of great mercy, love, and humility.

Blessed Pope John Paul II opening the Holy Door
 (which is opened for the Jubilee year alone, the door to the right of the
 main doors at St. Peter Basilica) Christmas Eve 1999

       We recently celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy on the Sunday following Easter, instituted by Blessed Pope John Paul II at the inspiration of St. Faustina. This amazing feast day is an entire day of pilgrimage and of atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.  We Catholics pray fervently, typically all in the same day - with mass, confession, Eucharistic Adoration silence, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and singing - all calling down God's mercy upon everyone everywhere, especially those who need it the most. And Jesus, who said that from now on, we not only cannot kill, if we even grow angry at another we will be liable for judgment, so great is His mercy and modeling, shows us how critical it is to not harbor anger and hostility toward another person.  It is such an exquisite event that Pope Francis has announced to continue this theme of an outpouring from God and from Christ-followers, of genuine mercy to all, and raise it to a level of Jubilee!  Thank you, Dear Papa!  

        Another smaller miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit happened recently when attempting to announce online a retreat given by Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, a world renowned spiritual leader especially in the area of Christ's nonviolent modeling and way in the world.  A quote from St. Patrick was used on this LCW site, "Killing is not of Christ," which had nothing to do with the retreat specifically, since it had not taken place.  There was no knowledge that he would even use this quote at all, which put into question using it.  Well, at the retreat the only gift given to all the retreatants was an icon picture of St. Patrick with this quote!  The picture below is the holy card given.

On Back:  Violence is not the Christian Way,

violence is not the Holy Way,

violence is not the Apostolic Way,

violence is not the Way of the Gospels,

violence is not the Way of Jesus.

Saint Patrick,

Pray for us.

     Some of the most powerful words of Rev. Charles McCarthy:

• ... Jesus has to tell us how to live among evil and death and to conquer it.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, ... all things were made through him... the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  God incarnate becomes one of us and lives among us to tell us how to live, how to reach eternal live, ... Not just for ourselves but for everybody
• Why do you say that "Jesus is the way?"  Because Jesus said it!  "I am THEEEE way ..." Jesus is the Son of God [not the relativism of various religions, "prophets," etc, but He alone is God's Son]
• Jesus' words and His deeds cannot be separated from His person.  They are INSEPARABLE. His actions are the same as His person and deserve exactly the same level of adherence as His person and His words
• If Jesus calls God, "Abba," then that is what God is, not something else.  Nothing can be truer than the Word of Truth.  Jesus is not only the Word Incarnate, but Truth Incarnate
• The only time in Jesus' words that He uses the emphasis that this particular act will PROVE, or be the proof or mark, that you indeed are children of the heavenly Father is if you love your enemies. This will call you children of God, as opposed to children of this god or that god of various beliefs.  It is what singles us out in the world as different. We must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, who makes his sun and rain shine on the good and bad alike
• Jesus said that if you want to get it right, to live in Truth, it is summarized as Jesus said it is summarized:  Love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind and your whole strength and to love your neighbor as yourself - neighbor being everyone outside of oneself

Rev. Charles Emmanuel McCarthy Retreat on the nonviolent
love and modeling of Jesus

"Jesus' words and actions are inseparable, with the same
 expectations of adherence"

HAPPENINGS OF THE LAMB

     There is no real news to tell at this time, besides the live liver donor surgery coming June 9.  Monica is giving up to 69% of her liver to a needy relative in end stages liver disease.  She will offer any discomfort or pain associated with this for God, the Harvest-master, to send workers in the field, willing to embrace voluntary poverty and live in community in the Catholic Worker tradition of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.  She also offers it up for purification of the Catholic Worker Movement, of houses and communities, and for the canonization of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin together.
     God-willing, once she heals, she will begin taking in battered women and children of foreign descent into her home, beginning on a small scale.  The plea is out for more workers in the field, dedicated to the mission and vision of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.
     We are still seeking donations to obtain the properties for this 3-house Catholic Worker model, with abandoned city lots in between for city gardening.  Happy feast day of St. Joseph the Worker yesterday, the patron of the Catholic Worker! Mother Mary, St. Joseph, Dorothy Day, and Peter Maurin, please pray for us!

Walk the Stations of the Cross with Jesus on Good Friday

The Lamb Catholic Worker, Columbus, Ohio

     Lucky for we Christ the King parishioners, Deacon Pete leads a varying and exquisite meditation of the Stations of the Cross every Friday of Lent.  If you have never done this, or are not Catholic, it is one of the most powerful and life-changing prayers possible.  We at the Lamb Catholic Worker encourage all Christ-followers to find a great publication as a tool to undergoing this most profound "pilgrimage" on Good Friday.  Be sure to include in this Good Friday pilgrimage the first day of the (9 day) novena toward the Feast of Divine Mercy, the Sunday after Easter!

     The traditional 14 Stations of the Cross are as follows (and you can typically find them along the walls of any Catholic Church):

1. Jesus is condemned to death

2. Jesus takes His cross

3. Jesus falls the first time

4. Jesus meets His mother

5. Simon helps Jesus carry the cross

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

7. Jesus falls the second time

8. Jesus speaks with the women 

9. Jesus Falls the third time

10. Jesus is stripped of His clothing

11. Jesus is nailed to the cross

12. Jesus dies on the cross

13. Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in the arms of His mother

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

     My favorite so far is a new publication, "The Challenge of the Cross," by Alfred McBride, O.PRAEM., by St. Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati, Ohio.  Here are excerpts from some of the stations to give you a sense of this beautiful meditation.  All the words are quotes, and those in quotation marks are from Scripture, quoted from this book as well.

     Jesus is Condemned to Death - They spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head (Matthew 27:3).  When I look at the unfair judgments endured by Jesus... I think of the judgments I have made ... I mistreat innocent people and sometimes, sadly, those closest to me.  I rush to judgment when patience is needed.  Even my own relationship with Jesus is marred by unjust thoughts... I need spiritual purification. I have also been hurt by false judgments made against me.  I have survived, but always need spiritual purification.  Standing beside Jesus when He bore my sinfulness  in silence, I experience a mix of regrets and a power flowing from Him into my soul.... I excuse myself too easily, forgive me, Lord. 
Jesus Takes the Cross - Jesus often spoke of the cross.  In effect He said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).  What He preached, he practiced.  St. Paul writes: "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). St. Paul often preached the cross, as he does again to the Corinthians: "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)... like St. Paul's advice about our crosses: "I appeal to you ... to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1).  Facing my pain, disappointments, losses, betrayals, dreams unattained, I need to live my own version of Christ's Passion.  St. Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:12-13).  I do not suffer alone.  Jesus is with me in those who stand by my side.
Jesus Falls the First Time - "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16)." Jesus is now on His journey to Calvary.  In stumbling and falling, He identifies with our difficulties in reaching our destiny...  I won't forget that Jesus arose after each fall.  He is my secret power to do so.
Jesus Meets His Mother - Mary and Jesus exchange glances of forgiveness to those who created their sorrow, I see too that neither Mary nor Jesus shows the least sign of resentment or bitterness.  Both display mercy as the true road to the future.. Mercy is just what I want and need to give others... Lord, don't let Your love grow cold in me because of hurts I feel.  Jesus, help me give true love to those who harmed me... Through meditating on the gentleness of Your humanity, may I expand my capacity to love.
Simon Helps Carry the Cross - Simon would be the first man to carry the cross of Jesus, who had taught, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; ... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29-30)... I know times when I have been asked to give care to a loved one, a neighbor, a coworker, a stranger.  This role of caregiver can drain me in many ways -- straining my finances, patience, time, and energy.  I find sometimes that I want to say "no" when asked to give care, but soon I say "yes," [like Simon] and get on with doing what is needed.  I try to see the image of Simon .. [who] made it possible for Jesus to accomplish the final act of salvation at Calvary..."Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galations 6:2)... Lord, give me the courage to be a caregiver.  Jesus, show me the wisdom of the cross in being a caregiver... Lord, I pray for the graces I need to serve the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick, the elderly, the dying.  Open me to accept the challenges of the cross You wish me to carry.  Forgive me for my reluctance to bear your cross. Grant me the joy that comes from loving service to You in the needs of others.
Jesus Falls a Second Time - I am slow to recognize Jesus' humility in becoming human, so see Him in the midst of His self-emptying.  In our natural world, what goes up must come down.  In our supernatural world, what does down [humility] should go up... Jesus fell and got up for me.  I know love made Him do this.  Infinite love will do the unthinkable... That's why He experienced falls -- so that He could win for me my risings to carry on with my life... May I see in Your falls Your willingness to endure more self-emptying, even to the end of this life.  Open my eyes of faith and help me to identify the love that made it possible for you to rise after every fall.
Jesus Speaks with the Daughters of Jerusalem - "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23:27-28). As always, Jesus thinks of others before His own needs.  He worries about the future of these women and their children. 
Jesus Falls the Third Time - "We boast of our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (St. Paul to the Romans 5:3-4).  Paul did endure, as he later wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).  In heading for His destiny, Jesus encountered a devastating fall that challenged Him to rise and move on... I remember Christ's last thrust to Calvary when the apostle James wrote, "My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1:2-3).  I tend to focus on the pain and find it difficult to notice the joy that James mentions.  I pray that I may imitate the attitude of Peter and his companions who faced persecution joyfully for proclaiming Christ.  Having just been flogged, "as they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name [of Jesus]" (Acts 5:41)... St. Gregory of Nyssa: "We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, ... imitating His passion by our sufferings, and honoring His blood by shedding our own.  We must be ready to be crucified."
Jesus is Stripped of His Clothing - ... Now He identified with the poorest of the poor who barely have anything to wear.  His self-emptying reached yet another level as human beings tried to rob Him of His last shred of dignity... He is vulnerable, a word taken from the Latin vulnus, meaning "wound"... Why does Jesus allow Himself to be so vulnerable?  Because He intends to heal the hurters. I often strike back with insults, betrayals, and slights.  When I hurt Christ, He forgets the wounds and tries to heal me, the hurter.  To Jesus the real wound is in the one inflicting the pain.  Jesus assumes the difficulties of the hurter and offers healing by the therapy of forgiveness and love... Jesus welcomes me as a sinner into the chambers of His heart and lets me thrash about with my unruly passions.  Then He offers me the love that would cure me of irrational evil... Jesus was not completely silent ["...like a sheep lead before the shearers silent" (Isaiah 53:5,7)], that He spoke a few words: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)... For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corrinthians 1:18)... Lord, teach us the wisdom you witnessed as a wounded healer... for the gift of healing those who hurt me, Lord hear my prayer.  For the wisdom to love my enemies, Lord hear my prayer.  For the courage not to strike back when I am wounded, Lord hear my prayer... Lord, engrave on my heart the promise of happiness so I may live the words of Jesus, "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12).
Jesus is Nailed to the Cross - To think of the pain caused by the nails in Christ's hands and feet is almost too much to bear... Poor, sick, oppressed, and crushed people find comfort in the Passion of Christ... I hear and sing of the Passion of Jesus in the spirituals of the African slaves.  The pain of Christ symbolized the slaves' own sufferings. Jesus could understand their despised condition in an unfriendly and inhuman world...They were there with Jesus.  The slaves sang, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?  They sang their own reply, "Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble"... The most distant object I can see on a clear day is the sun.  But on a dark night I can see the stars millions of miles farther away.  Darkness has its spiritual value.  I think of that in my own times of trouble, when I tremble, tremble, tremble... I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)... Let us pray to meet the challenge of the cross. Lord, deepen my faith in the power of the cross in my life...for patience in times of personal pain..
Jesus Dies on the Cross - As the ninth hour approached on Good Friday afternoon, the sacrifice of the Passover lambs at the Temple concluded.  The high priest in Hebrew said,"Kalah" ("It is finished."). At that moment, Jesus the Lamb of God, said, "Kalah" ("It is finished") (John 19:30a). Jesus bowed His head and rested it on the cross.  A  great silence enfolded that moment, the silence of the Lamb of God.  In His death Jesus completed the perfect sacrifice needed for the forgiveness of all the sins of those who repent and seek His divine mercy.... When I think of Christ's death, I linger on my own future death.  I will not be able to choose the time and place of my death, but I can choose my way of life... My death will ratify the kind of life I have lived and the choices I have made.  If I have lived with love, that is how I shall die.  If not, that will be a tragedy.  As He was dying, Jesus gave His life calmly and lovingly to God, for that was how He lived.  He didn't leave any money.  He left an incomparable testament: divine mercy, future life, and sustaining hope... "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in His steps .." When he was abused, He did not return abuse; when He suffered, He did not threaten;... He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:21, 23-24).
Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross (and layed in the arms of His mother) - He placed a grown man in a woman's lap [we cannot picture the sword to Mary's heart as she holds her baby boy for the last time, seeing and touching up close, the immensity of His suffering that took place right before her eyes]. Blessed John XXIII [formerly Pope John XIII] was fond of quoting an old Italian proverb, "Sotto la neve c'e il pane" ("Beneath the snow there is bread").  Rural wisdom remembers that the seed under the winter snow will rise in the springtime.  Blessed John XXIII applied the saying to those overwhelmed by sorrow and unable to see beyond the pain. Using his picture I see the snow.  I do not see the bread of love growing quietly underneath the white blanket... For the gift of consoling those who mourn lost ones, Lord hear our prayer... Console me when I will need to grieve the death of a loved one while I retain belief in eternal life.

Two other great Stations of the Cross meditation publications are:  "The Franciscan Way of the Cross," by Teresa V. Baker, S.F.O., St. Anthony Messenger Press, and "Mary's Way of the Cross" by Richard G. Furey, C.Ss.R., Twenty-Third Publications.

Embracing the 'Folly of the Cross,' as St. Francis Preached and Lived

       THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - When forced to codify the Franciscan way of life, St. Francis merely replied: "Yes, this is my rule - the folly of the cross." His way of being solely an instrument of God's own peace and God's own love in this world was so unpopular during the Middle Ages and especially during the Crusades, that his own order tried to kick him out, even with the stigmata (for this along with other items such as his radical poverty).
      Fully allowing the "weeds" to grow together with the crops (people who behave well and who behave badly), is a message taught by God concerning how we who consider ourselves children of God are called to live harmoniously with others in this exquisite world He so lovingly created as good.  Yet, he furthered this precept through Jesus by now calling all to actually love the "weeds,"  to love our enemies, or those very different from ourselves, who either bother us, disagree with us, offend us, or hate us - whoever "we" are.  God personally demonstrates how we are to love the good and bad alike by unflinchingly showering rain and sun on both equally, lovingly, without partiality.  Are we above God not to?

  

King's Son

Lord, isn't your creation wasteful?

Fruits never equal the seedlings abundance.

Springs scatter water.

The sun gives out enormous light.

May your bounty teach me greatness of heart.

May your magnificence stop me being mean.

Seeing you a prodigal and open-handed giver,

Let me give unstintingly, like a king's son,

Like God's own.

Dom Helder Camera The Desert is Fertile

     
     Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban, survived, and boldly advocates for the education of girls and women, and more recently, for peace.  She met with President Barack Obama and told him to stop the deadly drone attacks on Pakistan.  They are killing many innocent civilians, including children, and turning many ordinary people against the U.S. and onto the side of the Taliban, she said.  She was also interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show who marveled at her bold peacemaking and wondered what he has been doing all of his life.

Military Reaper Drone with Hellfire Missiles

     

       As we approach the season of Advent, preparing for the birth of the Prince of Peace, may we open our hearts in love and peace to all, the very peace that is also Christ Himself ("He shall BE peace"), to embrace the "weeds," or people in our minds highly different from ourselves.  

     There is a new children's picture book out called, Jerusalem Sky: Stars, Crosses, and Crescents that speaks of the holiness of deeply regarding other people and respecting their beliefs, their very persons.  This is particularly so among all of the children of Abraham, of whom all Christians, Muslims, and Jewish people are sons and daughters, each and every one, historically. Abraham's firstborn son was Ishmael, the bloodline of Islam, and then Isaac, the bloodline of Jews and Christians.

      The story goes that "there is a hole [in the Jerusalem sky] ..." through which "hope reaches heaven."  It goes on to describe how "Jewish sages tell of  ... Solomon ... and the [great] Temple being made ... and torn down [many times], and that every stone from which was flung from the Temple in these attempts to destroy it, 'a synagogue was built.'"

     Then the book poetically speaks of how "Christians tell of a wondrous star in the Jerusalem sky, ... announcing the news of Jesus' birth. And how thirty-three years later, a spring afternoon's daylight blackened .. when Jesus died on a small ... hill"  What should have concluded the sky theme here is the following: "Followers retold how Jesus' apostles witnessed Him rising up through the sky; and an angel telling them to stop looking up, but 'go and tell the good news.'"

     Finally, it tells the story of how "Muslims tell of the prophet Muhammed's night journey ... in which he rode through the sky on a flying horse, then reached heaven on a stairway of light.  Where Muhammed rose to heaven now stands a mosque with sky blue stones and a dome of gold, shining like a second sun."

    The book speaks tenderly of Jerusalem, a city that has "seventy names," mainly called the "City of Peace," yet "no place has been fought over more - seventeen times torn apart and rebuilt..."  The book concludes that "perhaps possession of Jerusalem is like trying to own the sky," this city that "has been mapped on God's palm -- ... with prayers for peace and miracles ... and hope that lights the Jerusalem sky."

      This eloquently matches a very recent Catholic mass reading concerning love of Jerusalem.  It is one of the few New Testament writings that mention Jesus weeping:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!  You kill the prophets

and stone those sent to you!  How often I have longed 

to gather your children together,

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,

but you would not let me."

Matt. 23:37

"God Does Not Take Sides," Mother Teresa Replied When Asked to Pray For Our Troops, "I Will Pray for Peace [Alone]"

The Sainthood Pathway Begun for Dorothy Day

 THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - Dorothy Day's case for beatification, led by Cardinal Dolan of New York and recently approved by the U.S. Catholic bishops, is a breath of fresh air for Catholics young and old.  It restores faith in the Catholic Church to the weary, to the disillusioned, and to those Catholics who take seriously all teachings of the Church, even the less popular peace and social justice ones. 

     

           Why is the Catholic Church desiring to recognize and give honor to this woman?  She strived to live out the Gospels as authentically and truthfully as they were lived in the Early Church, closest in timeline to Truth itself, to Jesus Christ.  She chose to live directly with the poor twenty-four hours a day, not separating herself from them at night in a mother house or community house for reprieve.  Moreover, she embraced and unflinchingly lived out her belief in the sacredness of all, ALL, human life and human lives the world over, made in God's image and likeness, by encouraging a strong anti-abortion stance and by embracing the nonviolent cross of Jesus in her pacifism.  This unwavering and unpopular  love for every person the world over spanned three major U.S.-involved wars, beginning with World War II.

         Desmond Doss was another pacist during World War II who gave witness in conscientious objection to using a "gun" (bombs, etc) to kill people. He showed that there are varying levels of pacifist choices. He wanted to help the effort - yet only as a medic - and ended up saving the lives of 75 men one day by carrying their fallen bodies up a 400 ft. escarpment under a hail of constant gunfire and lowering them by rope to safety. He was shot and received the medal of honor (read the details in his citation online).  

        Also, Fr. George Zabelka, the chaplain assigned to those dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki became an outspoken pacifist and peacemaker against weapons of mass destruction dropped on innocent civilians.  My father, a former weapons contractor with North American Rockwell, is yet another older Catholic pacifist who became good friends with Fr. Zabelka, marching across Ohio for peace and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction.  My dear mother, Dorothy Siemer, famous for her work among the poor, was equally an ardent pacifist as well.
         A more recent, quiet but powerful witness to the sacredness of all human life in his refusal to bear arms in war against people was Joshua Casteel, of whom I write with teary eyes of his touching witness and recent death at a young age.  He was a Catholic U.S. Marine interrogator who turned pacifist during this most recent war in Iraq.  He was challenged to take seriously the new command of Christ to love your enemies and do [only] good to those who hate you.  He became a conscientious objector while still in uniform.  He died this summer of an extremely rare lung cancer begun by burning the U.S. trash pits in Iraq, and constantly worried until his death about the Iraqi families having inhaled all of this toxic smoke as well. This pollution of the U.S., combined with the destruction of many buildings and infrastructure in Iraq, are reminders of the differences between the works of mercy and the works of war, of which Dorothy Day so eloquently wrote (Works of War: destroy crops and land, seize food supplies, destroy homes, scatter families, inflict wounds and burns, kill the living, etc,).  
       
         How did she keep such a stance of pure pacifism when much of society and the world were caught up in very differing ways than this?  Where does this pacifism come from?  Believe it or not, it comes from Jesus, His Apostles (in this apostolic Church), and all Christ-followers for the first three hundred years - longer than the U.S. has even been a country. Besides numerous writings from the mouth of Jesus and many prophecies in the Old Testament foreshadowing what was to come, some are from Tertullian, Maxmillian, Origen, and St. Justin the Martyr, to name a few.
        But what about the centurion who we so often quote during mass and who Jesus revered in his depth of faith: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed"?  Centurions were equivalent to a police force keeping law and order among civilians locally.  They were on the street corners, so to speak, to stop someone from getting robbed or raped, or to arrest someone and remove them from society temporarily or permanently.  These were not the soldiers trained and ready, at the stroke of a quill or order of a king, to decimate an entire city of people.  Also, Jesus did not stamp his approval on his profession, only his faith.
        It is not normal for a person to want to kill another person. Soldiers and terrorists are born sweet and innocent babies predisposed to love.  No, this is accepted and learned behavior in prospective cultures.  My father, the pacifist peace activist, used to say how his Navy training temporarily turned him into "an attack dog," ready to kill instantly, whoever they would order you to kill, on command, without questioning or even thinking.  Joshua Casteel had recently addressed the training aspect of taking a young teenager who is not born or even inclined to kill people, and making him or her capable of doing so, as in his Marine training.   He had to shout back and forth with is superior officer the following:
      "What are we supposed to DO?!"
      "KILL! KILL! KILL!"
      "What makes the grass GROW GREEN?!"
      "BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!"
        Soldiering is painted in photographs as very different from the grisliness it actually entails in time of war.  It is sort of like the amnesia of pro-abortion people who package it as simply a "choice," or deep respect for a woman's body and her personal right to choose things over her own body.  What it actually does, though, is slaughter a separate human life that happens to be within her body.  A woman may have a justification in her mind like, "I am at my wits end, with four other children to care for and my husband only coming around long enough to steal my welfare checks.  I must do this to give what little food and diapers I can to the others, to protect and support the others."  We have our reasons to justify killing people as well.
        In war, as it is defined by Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J., who taught peace studies at Georgetown University for 25+ years, it is this destruction of human life, only on a grander scale:  "War is inter-group lethal conflict involving the massive loss of human life, and ALWAYS taking on a momentum and life of its own leading to unplanned savagery [beyond what is planned]." This is not a reflection upon those young teenagers themselves, who typically are very sacrificial and noble (and still very impressionable), wanting to serve their country to the level of putting themselves in harm's way.  No, the grisly and barbaric realities are from warring itself - submersing oneself in a situation of killing, maiming, poisoning, and harming human bodies.
        Mark Twain describes well what we are actually praying for when we pray for our soldiers (and therefore soldiering acts) in "The War Prayer," as it has become called:

 "O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

        What does Jesus teach on this and even command?  What did He model if He is truly to be the Way, the Truth and the Life?  Are we to take His words, His lessons, and His example above all else, including ourselves and our own deeply entrenched opinions?  Should we be crystal clear that our petitionary prayers during the holiest of holy sacrifice of the actual Body and Blood of the perfect, unblemished Lamb be fully, on the holy altar near the sacred sanctuary be 100% clearly aligned with Jesus' own commandments and modeling?  From the teachings of Jesus' own mouth come His words: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (meaning everyone outside of oneself's own body);  "Do [only] good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you;""Do not worry about that which kills the body, but does not kill the soul;" "Those who live by the sword will die by the sword;" and "Love your enemies... This will prove [or be proof of being His, of your mark set apart in the world from others] that you are children of your heavenly Father who makes His sun and rain fall on the good and bad alike [that is how great His love is for them - are we above Him not to?].
       One cannot reduce the command to love our enemies only to those people in your life who cause you problems, like neighbors, coworkers, or extended family members.  When I was growing up, one of the Gospels had the actual wording: "Before it was said that you must love your countrymen and hate your enemies.  But I say to love your enemies ..." putting it at the country and country's enemy level.  To pacifists, killing human beings, or sacred human life, is as far from love as you can possibly get.  It wipes out any options of reconciliation or repentence with God for that person you just killed.  In fact, it is as far from God as one can get, usurping His role as the Sole One who alone is Author of life and death, as is said in scriptures.  We play God when we take the life of another person who is someone's brother, nephew, dad, uncle, or cousin.  They are as much made in God's own image and likeness as we are.  Is there such a thing as human life not being sacred?  Do we believe unequivocally that every human life in all life stages is sacred or do we not?  Who are we to play God?
        Pacifists have the mentality of Brother Christian (from the movie, Of Gods and Men), one of the martyred (1990's) French-speaking Trappist monks in Algeria who left a note to his Muslim terrorist would-be executioner that read something like: "Oh happy thief, today you will be with  me in paradise because I will pray for you to get to heaven and be with our Lord," mirroring Christ's own words during the crucifixion aimed squarely at these brutal, hate-filled, killing  people: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
       If Christ was pacifist, why then, when the soldier asked Jesus, "What must I do?" He did not reiterate to "Love your enemy and only do good to him.  You cannot love and kill the same person at the same time.  That is impossible."  Instead he simply said to "Be content with your pay."  Twice in Scriptures Jesus is confronted with a question that could have had him immediately beheaded by the Romans if He went directly against them - this question (which He side-stepped with the pay answer instead of saying to leave soldiering) and the question of paying taxes to Caesar or not.  He was destined not to die by the sword though, but to have his hands and feet pierced in a crucifixion as Scriptures foretold.
       The Amish, the Mennonite, and the Quakers "absolutely refuse to bear arms against another human being," meaning, to kill them in war.  Mahatma Ghandi, an Oxford educated lawyer and in the Brahaman class of the Hindu of India, stumbled upon the New Testament at Oxford and asked a Catholic if they believed the parts of Matthew's Gospel on loving your enemy, turning the other cheek, etc.  The reply was, "Well, we don't take that seriously." His response was, "Well, I do!" He eventually led the movement that overthrew the British with total nonviolence, who had far more tight and sophisticated a control over India than England ever had over the U.S. colonies.
        What about, "No greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his friends" popularly used at military funerals?  The sacrifice of soldiers is great indeed, but there is a world of difference in accidentally dying (in a very dangerous situation) while killing others and, like the early Church martyrs of the first three centuries, to lovingly (and physically) lay down one's life for God or for love of enemy.  Can you picture anyone in the early Church who is being martyred jumping up, overpowering the small band there to arrest (and eventually kill) them, and killing those people to escape?  Or killing any of their persecutors?  This would never have crossed one's mind.  Ghandi put it eloquently when he said, "There is a cause for which I would give my life, but no cause for which I am prepared to kill." Ghandi was once asked, "Why in the world do you not become a Christian?  You read the words of Christ daily, you quote from Christ more than any other, and you live it perfectly - in a humble community, pooling all your resources, caring for the sick and poor in joyful poverty." He replied, "I would become one if I met one."
        I once asked our beloved Bishop Campbell about the appropriate amount to pray for militarism (militaristic people, and therefore militaristic actions involving killing people), during the holy sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, and on the holy altar.  This was especially so in lieu of our involvement in the recent Iraqi war that was "not legally or morally justified," according to Pope John Paul II, and that killed over 40 times 9-11 - over 200,000 people, mostly innocent civilians.  He replied that it should be balanced out with the other.  Using songs like "Let There be Peace on Earth (and let it begin with me)" and "Make me a Channel of Your Peace" do not balance this out at all.  They can even be misconstrued as backing this illegal and immoral war, instead of having nothing to do with it. The Church has no say whatsoever in the targets, small and large goals for an area, strategies, maneuvers, and decisions of the military in war time or other. Why have we been led to follow and support them blindly, as thought they were the Church, and as though they were not going against our true moral leader in this prolonged recent war?  How can we pray them onward against our Pope?
       Hitler had ordered to be put on his soldiers belt buckles, "In God We Trust." To Hitler though, human lives were expendable and not sacred. Thinking of terrorists, you can picture many of them having a very fervent, prayerful time before they perform actions that they deem are for Allah ("Allah" is their word for god) and against immoral and unholy people and governments, as they see them. They could be bowed at head, arm in arm, humble and obedient to "god."  The litmus test in any such group including Americans, would be that which can call them children of the living God - do they cherish all human life, without exception, never killing human beings and even loving their enemies?  Or, are people and peoples' lives expendable to them no matter how holy and prayerful they may look, huddled together in pictures? The terrorists are huddled together in prayer too.  Should our actions as Christ-followers be different than theirs?
      So, as many - not all - Catholic parishes pray for the military several times a year, for Veteran's and Memorial Day, etc., we must make sure to have the same (or more) number of other days to have in our petitions and bulletins prayers and pictures to FULLY balance this out of and for pacifists and pacifism.  One thing that Jesus was and is very passionate about is keeping the "Temple" - His Father's house where the consecration of His actual Body and Blood take place - holy.  We must make absolute certain that what we pray over and for align with Him, with His way, His example, and His new commands.  Adding pacifists to our prayers, then, is the only way to keep it balanced, as our bishop has asked, and not be confusing or hollow-sounding in our peace songs.
       These could go something like this:  "For those who are pacifist witnesses to Christ's and the Apostles' modeling, may they be strengthened by our support," or, "May God bless and protect those called to be pacifists and may their peacemaking mark them as children of God, sending forth Christ's true peace into and throughout the world."  Another could be, "May God strengthen in perseverance those promoting the Church's teachings on the sacredness of all human life without exception in their pacifism, against the culture of death so heavy in our world."  As we proceed, if some desire to offer prayers for the military during another illegal and immoral war condemned by our spiritual leader from the Chair of St. Peter again, should our prayers then be to steer our youth away from this sinful situation like we would against abortion?  Should there be no confusion or misleading for our youth or for parents of these youth? 
       Do these make one feel uncomfortable?  Even offended?  The real question is, would they offend Christ? Would they offend Jesus or are they aligned with the teachings of Jesus?  Do they go against Christ's Way and example, that of the perfect, unblemished Lamb, or are we clinging to such ingrained human violent tradition that we refuse to open our hearts to these most controversial teachings of Jesus?  Fr. Barron opened his Catholicism series with just how radical Jesus and His teachings are!  His words were many times not pleasant to hear at all, very agitative, sharper than any two-edged sword separating bone from marrow.  Perhaps the best approach to prayer during the holy sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Prince of Peace is that of Mother Teresa - for peace itself, for Christ - not adding either "extreme."  Minimally, we should consider opening the door far and wide to those prophetic voices God has sent us on pacifism and truly loving your enemies, alongside our militaristic-minded brothers and sisters.  Pacifism and pacifists need to be fully welcome and included in petitions, bulletins, and homilies.
        I recently stopped to give money to a very elderly veteran collecting at a table at Lowe's, and I told him that I always give money to veterans because they are so brave and giving, but I am a pacifist and don't believe in ever killing people.  He replied: "So are most of us."  I then said, "You have to get the word out!  Young people don't know this. They only hear and see support of the opposite. Please try to get the word out."  He just smiled, probably relieved that someone in the generation after his (me) will get the word out.
       With the beatification process started for Dorothy Day, it must do Jesus' heart a great deal of good!  His harder teachings have gone unheard, except for these shining examples like her, Joshua Casteel, Desmond Doss, Mahatma Ghandi, St. Francis of Assisi, and a multitude of fellow Catholic Workers across the country throughout the past 75+ years.  Lord, strengthen us to follow Your way of the cross, being genuine channels of solely Your peace and Your love to the world!
        Pray also for stopping the building and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons industry), and the very real potential of using them, as mind-boggling as this may seem.  Moreover, joining a nuclear-armed military is taking responsibility for all that we are capable and poised to do. Rev. Richard McSorley of Georgetown reiterated until his last breath his most famous saying:  "It's a Sin to Build a Nuclear Weapon." He also coined: "When you choose the lesser of two evils, you soon forget you chose evil in the first place" (i.e. Hiroshima and Nagasaki).  Thus, one can imagine the sin of being a part of ever using one (again). Moreover,  the hideous drone program further removes human minds, hearts, consciences, and eyes from full awareness of the bloodshed these actually cause, reducing the act to the feel of a video game.  This system is equivalent to having fully automated abortions where a woman would come into a machine, and it would do all the destruction of human life.  Our drone program makes it even more simple to feel okay killing human life because one would be so removed from seeing the actual bloodiness of it.
     Pray to the Prince of Peace Himself, for His infusion into the hearts of people, especially Catholics.  Are we ready to stand before Jesus?  What if our time to go was tomorrow?  Will we older Catholics have an excuse if we have ignored His most difficult teachings and led others to do the same? Pray also for Mary's intercession on behalf of the world, to her beloved Son.  Pray especially for the 6,000-7,000 returned veterans who kill themselves each year (although the Marines and Air Force have refused to release numbers any more, so it may be much higher).  Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, pray for them and for us! The following are words from Dorothy Day's Advent, 1945 article, "Making Room for Christ:"
     "...now it is with the voice of contemporaries that He speaks, with the eyes of store clerks, factory-workers, and children that He gazes; with the hands of office workers, slum dwellers and suburban housewives that he gives.  It is the feet of soldiers and tramps that He walks, and with the heart of anyone in need that He longs for shelter."
*Note:  See the movie, End of the Spear, a 2005 docudrama (true story) set in South America with indigenous tribes - very moving case for pacifism and the nonviolent cross. Especially watch after the credits have begun at the end for a brief interview.